Dennis Canavan
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Dennis Canavan (born 8 August 1942, Cowdenbeath) is a Scottish politician, and an independent member of the Scottish Parliament for Falkirk West.
He was educated at St. Bride's and St. Columba's Schools, Cowdenbeath, and at the University of Edinburgh and worked as a schoolteacher from 1970 until 1974.
He was leader of the Labour Group of Stirling District Council in 1974 and became a Labour member of the Westminster Parliament for West Stirlingshire in that year's October general election and for Falkirk West from 1983 to 2000. He was Chair of the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Group, 1980 - 1981. On almost all issues he voted with Labour friend and colleague Dennis Skinner, but as a Catholic, he did not share the Bolsover MP's support for abortion.
In the 2005 book The Final Whistle? it was revealed that Canavan took part in the Wembley pitch invasion in 1977 after the England v Scotland international football match and had ripped up a patch of the Wembley turf.[1]
In 1999, when elections for the first devolved Parliament were held, he was rejected as an official Labour candidate, and instead stood as an independent, and won. He had the highest majority of any MSP in the 1999 election. He was consequently expelled from the party. He resigned his Westminster seat in 2000. The by-election was won by Eric Joyce. He retained his Holyrood seat in 2003.
In the Scottish Parliament, he has been a member of the European and External Relations Committee and convener of the All-Party Sports Group since 1999.[2][3]
He was a strong supporter of the idea of a national holiday to celebrate St Andrew's Day, and his bill to achieve this was eventually passed as the St. Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007.
He has announced in a open letter to his constituents that he will stand down at the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections.[4] After this announcement he received an ovation at Holyrood from other MSPs and was praised by the First Minister Jack McConnell as "an outstanding parliamentarian over a long, long period of time".[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Reid, Harry, The Final Whistle?, Birlinn, 52, ISBN 1-84158-362-6
- ^ Scots hide Irish heritage
- ^ Catholic church backing
- ^ Canavan will not fight election, bbc.co.uk, 23 January 2007
- ^ Canavan receives Holyrood ovation, bbc.co.uk, 25 January 2007
[edit] External links
- Dennis Canavan MSP Biography at the Scottish Parliament website
- Dennis Canavan MSP Biography at personal website
- The colourful MSP calls it a day BBC profile
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